Q1. Hi Andrew. Why did you focus on the first half of the 19th century for your first vampire anthology? A1. I knew the first vampire short story written in the English language was "The Vampyre" by John Polidori. He published it in 1819. There was obviously fresh dirt, so to speak, for this period and I started digging. I wanted to start from the beginning just as I did with  The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849 , The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849  and  The Best G

Vampires have fascinated readers for centuries, but few know where the earliest stories truly began. The first half of the 19th century holds the cradle of vampire literature in English, a time when vampires were often called "vampyres" or even thought of as ghosts. This period shaped much of what we now recognize as classic vampire lore. Andrew Barger's newly published anthology, The Best Vampire Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Vampire Anthology , brings these forgotten tales b